Keno/kiːnoʊ/ is a lottery or bingo gambling game often played at modern casinos, and is also offered as a game in some state lotteries. A traditional live casino keno game uses a circular glass enclosure called a "bubble" containing 80 balls which determine the ball draw result. Each ball is imprinted with a number 1 through 80. During the ball draw, a blower pushes air into the bubble and mixes the balls. A "caller" presses a lever opening a tube, where the balls lift one at a time into a "V" shaped tube called the "rabbit ears". The caller and a "verifier" record each of 20 balls drawn, and the computerized keno system calculates all wagers based on the numbers drawn. (wikipedia)

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All good things must come to a fiery, crashing end. We had a nice long streak of strong puzzles, but this puzzle is unable to keep that streak alive. The play on the "Roses are red ..." rhyme is trite and cloying. Cutesy. Olden in the worst way. From a poetic perspective, it's unbalanced and doesn't scan right. The fill is subpar. Way too many odd partials and common things, no real points of interest. Maybe it's a nostalgia puzzle, or some kind of palate cleanser, or I don't know, but it doesn't feel like it's up to par with the standards of a 21st-century daily. Not one that touts itself as the greatest puzzle in all the land, that's for sure.

Now that I look at the puzzle, I really should've made P.C. WREN the "word of the day." That is the one thing in this easy puzzle that I absolutely did not know (12D: P.C. ___ ("Beau Geste" novelist"))—a real outlier in a puzzle that is otherwise painfully straightforward in its cluing, a la [Brontë heroine] for EYRE (a clue which, by the way, was Completely Missing from the puzzle when I printed it off the web last night—apparently there were issues w/ the diaeresis over the "e" in "Brontë"). I also thought a "posy" was itself a flower, not a thing that contained one (35A: Part of a posy, maybe = DAISY). Otherwise, I had no issues—just methodically filled in answers. I feel bad that this puzzle is being judged against the puzzles that came immediately before it, but that's life in the bigs. I gotta get out of my home office and into my home's one air-conditioned room now. See you tomorrow.

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Very easy Wed. for me. DODO to DOPE was my only erasure. Not that fond of "quote" puzzles and this one did not change my mind. It sounds like an ELEMentary school joke. Not cute, just kinda dumb.

So, meh.

And, for some reason AcrossLite was not working on the NYT site (it was fine when I checked BEQ), so I printed out the PDF and 32d was blank. I see that Rex has explained why. (I prefer to print out in AcrossLike because you can opt for very light black squares.)

Felt very easy for a Wednesday. Plus, as others have stated, the quote is bland. Just kind of flat. And I completed the first three sections before I got to ACHOO and was like, "this doesn't even rhyme!"

When I kept getting “tilt” type messages that Across Lite wouldn’t download the puzzle I reluctantly printed it out in PDF format and grumbled all the way through completion, sorely missing my familiar friend, A/L.

Then, after finishing the puzzle, (mainly by filling the downs), I noticed that the entry UPUP was an across answer and can only say, “For shame!” that such an obvious down entry was missed for the UPUP.

But clearly, everything about Ms. Weintraub’s puzzle was rubbing me the wrong way and it continued through the reveal of the humdrum quote, on through countless commonplace clues and answers, (RHO, OUZO, EBAY, YULE, ESTE, ETAS, SEMIS, YAMS, ONE, etc, etc, etc) and a gaggle of entries that should have played along with the theme and been erased by cruciverbal antihistamines, (DELA, CERA, WREN, REORG, IMNO, ROD as clued, ODOR as clued, etc).

There were a few minor saving graces including EMBALMED (of all things!), OPERETTA, LETMEGO, (because ISAYSO) and, of course, CUDDLED.

Aaaargh, take away Across Lite and my biorhythms go all akimbo!

So, sorry Ms. Weintraub, the xword gremlins made me cranky, but I can at least bid a “bless you” to your ACHOO.

As others have noted, what was most irksome about the very uninteresting and hackneyed theme-poem is that the meter is all wrong. If you're going to pun one of the most well-known bits of verse in the language, you need to get everything about it right.

@Questina: Agreed on 23A. Cluing ONE as "word on a dollar" felt below the standards of a Monday NYT puzzle, let alone a Wednesday. I'm not sure it even meets the standards of a USA Today puzzle. I know there's not a lot to be done with a clue for a word like ONE, but still.

Finished this in Tuesday-like time for me. This has been the quickest week of puzzle solving in my personal history that I can recall, as Monday and Tuesday were blazers for me, too.

I had such high hopes at first. Five Us in the second row, including the beautiful doubles in UP UP and UHURA. Another in the third row. But then the puzzle just sputtered out. Only two more the rest of the way. What a letdown.

Just screw all diacritical marks. Just because some foreign language is so stupid that it has the same spelling for different words, why do we have to suffer? The Spanish decided to spell year and butt-hole the same? I don't know what they were thinking, but why bother me with some stupid tilde? Ms. Brontë insists on pronouncing the ë ? Just be like some stupid American girl and make it Brontee or Bronti and leave me the hell alone.

Nasty CROWD so far. Throttle back people. I thought this was a very nice change of pace puzzle with a delightfully whimsical air to it.

The cherry-on-top for me was the ACHOO. I liked it for the same reason others didn't. It totally threw off the symmetrical metrical foot thingy, and gave the theme a touch of farce. Made me chuckle. Really.

I think Wednesday is a tough slot, kinda in a no-person's land, between the easier early-week and the trickier later-week puzzles. This one worked nicely for me.

Jon working his own copy said "whats 11D?" I said "OUZO" he said "I should have known that, I've had my fair share" I replied "maybe that's why you couldn't remember it"That stuff is lethal, can't get it past my nose.

One write over, same as @jae AGAIN, DOdo before DOPE.

I hate to criticize a puzzle, cuz God knows I couldn't construct one, although, I have never tried. Maybe... But when I laid my pen down my only comment was not favorable. Nuff said.

Well,I'm thankful that acrosslite downloaded for me.How could we appreciate that gems without weak entries to compare them to?I did not know that YMA fcame from PERU,so there's that.Evil could make a joke about TWIN SACK?

Although at times I may sound like I'm 7, I really prefer my puzzles to be a tad more adult.It did bring back the child-like memories though because I think I spent hours trying to come up with my own "Roses are Red...." romantic poem.I had an autograph book at about that time and *everyone* started their flowery praises for me that way.I like EMBALMED close enough to ODOR.

ROSES, DAISY, IRIS, WREN, SUET in the birdfeeder. . . I’m getting a backyard vibe here. But I have to tell you – when it’s so hot out like it is here, you won’t find me outside. Central air conditioning is one of the single most important things in my life.

VOLVO. POOH. I know a lot of you will disagree.

@Acme – I’m not a Trekkie, so I never easily get any of those former characters. I had “Ohura” and hence “coddled” for CUDDLED. Liked your “huddled!”

A yam is just the market term for a certain type of sweet potato. (It is also an erroneous term, but don't get me started.) So the 63A clue is basically saying that sweet potatoes are sweeter than sweet potatoes. Hmph.

NE was last to fall. Wanted SIDDLED for 9D, which blocked me for a long time. WREN new to me, too.

Easy for a Wednesday but just fine.

Re: getting the puzzle, my routine in Albany is to download the puzzle from Cruciverb, open it in Acrosslite, print to pdf, email to the hotel printer -- with me, so far? That works fine. Also, the hotel usually gets me the dead tree version before I leave, for reading during lunch. I've gotten to like the PDF via Acrosslite version better.

It took me a little longer than I expected to let go of the idea that a flower lover's lament would start with HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT. I should have realized that was impossible from the get-go since LOVE would have been in both the clue and answer.

@jae:

I once got a rejection on a quotation puzzle a few years ago where they told me that the NYT doesn't run them much anymore, so I'm surprised whenever they show up.

Sorry about the 32 Down clue.There is a new production thingy that is having the kinks ironed out of it as we speak, and due to software limitations, etc. etc., it dropped the clue because it didn’t know how to handle it. Passive aggressive little bastard.

We will be threatening it with a rolled up newspaper today, and hopefully it won’t happen again.

Deb “Sounding Like I Know What I’m Talking About Is 80% Of My Job” Amlen

I liked this better than others, but this puzzle did suffer from comparison to the past few days. The quote was just *there* for me, but I did like some of the fill: ENBALMBED next to DNA TESTS, the VOLVO and UHURA pair are fun.

Magmic app seemed to have handled Brontë just fine, luckily.

Took a sip of OUZO with my Greek FIL last weekend. I hoped that after getting sick on a DOZEN or so in my 20s that I would be able to enjoy the refreshing taste on a hot day. Sadly no.

Happy to say that, like @Anoa Bob, I had a smile when I found the ACHOO.

But, OMG, maybe my mind is slipping faster than I had realized. Shades of Monday's puzzle, I am shagrined -- no, make that chagrined -- to admit that I had 53 D as SERA before CERA. And I have always enjoyed this young actor's work, so I cannot claim unfamiliarity!

Well, I didn't hate it as much as many of you. I just thought it was pretty easy and kind of boring. I was also minus Miss EYRE's clue and when I saw it had only the R and was tempted to write in zeRo. But I waited and it came with the crosses. Heading back to SoCal tomorrow with the grands, one of whom is running a fever today. Good times.

@notsofast: Neither car is made in India. SAABs aren't made anywhere anymore. Volvo is now owned by a Chinese company, but production remains primarily in Sweden and Belgium. They also have Malaysian and Chinese assembly plants.

Noteworthy puz things to note:* Puz has only 8 weeject candidates. When yer biggest outlier is RHO, the M&A is impressed.* Not countin DNATESTS, puz has only one abbr. That's ELEM, my dear solver.* Not countin UPUP, puz has only one partial, with IMNO. This is because UPUP can be used impartially, as in thUmbsUpUp for eight U's.* Puz has only five or so people names. And one proper bear name.* Puz has only six or so plurals.* Puz has a TUXEDO, a VOLVO, and a DOZEN. There's yer formal Swedish scrabbled egg delivery service, right there.* The poetic theme is dern near one of them paraprosdorkian dealies. Classy. And the ACHOO is sorta like yer Burma-Shave icing on top.

In summation, there ain't a whole lot here to really latch onto and whip around and snarl at. I think 4-Oh is just sore because they didn't have the circles. Not sure what's wrong with the resta y'all. Cheer UpUp. snort.

I found this puzzle extraordinarily easy for a Wednesday, may have set a record, were I keeping track past Mondays. As a result, I didn't hate is, but there is one thing that bothered me about it: The Wren/Uhura cross calls for pretty darned specific knowledge of two uncommon names and if one didn't know either of them (that "one" would be me), one was SOL. Somehow that didn't seem fair to me. It's one thing to search around for the right word among several choices available, but to come up with Uhura? And for Wren, I tried a vowel progression first, then started with the consonants. Getting it right? Not likely.PuzzleMom (still proud as punch about Monday's puzzle)

P.S. And, being of an age that remembers well participating in anti-war activities i wanted the flower lovers lament to be something about where have they all gone? Couldn't come up with a phrase from that song that fit the squares, however, so gave it up and waited for a few more squares.

I guess I liked it more than @Rex because I thought it was a good puzzle with a mildly funny theme (I think of ACHOO as the exclamation point at the end of the rhyme). Fill was so-so, but no complaints. Again, no writeovers (though I contemplated KING at 67A) and no stumbling blocks so I guess it was easy.

@4-Oh: Know that an overheated house is really nothin to laugh about. Truly hope your situation gets much better, very soon. Now, forgot I ever said that, cuz some of these poor solvers need somethin to brighten UpUp their day...Luv and CUDDLEs,M&A

Top Reasons to Have Only One Room with the A/C:1. Realtor brochure said "central air". Yep. Center room has A/C.2. Set thermostat to 4-Oh. Outer rooms are fine.3. Had to cut back after eschewing lucrative New York Times puz gigs.4. Reaffirms disbelief in Global Warming. But believes Den-al Warming may now exist.5. Needed a "sweat out the puz and blog" room, to maintain proper level of grouchiness.6. This deal worked fine in Minneapolis.7. Keeps family circle real tight, in central room.8. Only got one room, plus the sweat den closet.9. Bought into bein told he had lotsa fans.10. Relief is spelled "C O L D P U Z R E V I E W S"..

p.s. Glad to see that some solvers are warmin upup to the puz, even if not quite a global phenom.

This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak I've made to my method. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio, the higher this week's median solve time is relative to the average for the corresponding day of the week.

All solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)

I expected the ACHOO to show up in part 4 of the lament, not noticing till later the clue for 68a. OFL is right: it doesn't scan well, given that ACHOO must be included in the line to rhyme with BLUE.

Cute. Jejune but cute. I'm not a big fan of quotations running through a crossword; let's leave those to acrostics, where they belong. I applaud the relative lack of them so far, and hope Mr. Shortz redoubles his efforts to keep them out of the Times in the future.

But I didn't think this was all weak. Lots of nice fill. How can you not like TUXEDO, e.g.? Easy as a Monday, though I balked at the frizz-TAMED connection. I guess it would help to be a woman.

This puzzle has been brought to you by the letters U and V. I bet that's why it slid through.

Oh, heck. This wasn't all that bad. To be sure, if the poem scanned, and was truly funny, then all would be well. All three this week have been easy, though, so I'm wondering how Th-Fr-Sat will stack up. Hopefully they'll be up to the standards of a 21st century paper that claims to have the finest puzzle in the land.+

Only know Star Trek from puzzles, but since R was the only letter that made sense in Mr. WREN's name, I went with it. So DF. Did have to replace nestLED and briefly toyed with inquESTS for the court room thing, but not for long. Most fun with this puzzle were the clever blogger comments, particularly MandA.

'@Diri: appreciate that you always seem to know the answer to my questions, and make them seem less dumb than they generally are!

Got the ROSES and VIOLETS parts of the quote quickly and thought it was going to be too easy, then realized I had no idea where the rest of it was going so the rest seemed more "Wednesdayish". SeEd before SUET was easily fixed, and I inexplicably wanted UHURu to be the lieutenant under Kirk (they might have reworded that clue, btw).

@rain forest - be careful what you wish for.

@DMG - Well *google* always knows the answers to your questions, and you know what they say about "dumb questions". Learning stuff from the puzzle and comments is one of my favorite things.